Thursday, February 14, 2013

Six decades of true love wrapped in poems

Enjoy this moving story of true love from Springmoor's own Bob Garnder, featured in the News & Observer.

In 1945, after serving in the Navy, Bob Gardner made his way into a post of the United Service Organizations on Morris Street in Durham.

Betty Mooney was on the dance floor that night, and Bob worked up the courage to ask for a dance. It’s a good thing he did. The two wasted no time becoming close friends, and Betty became Mrs. Gardner two years after they first met.

The couple was married for more than six decades, living much of that in Raleigh. They were separated by Betty’s death last July. After the funeral, Bob found a vivid reminder of their journey together: a black-and-gold tin box, filled with journals of poetry and letters written by Betty over the years.

Bob compiled a book he printed for friends and family members.

“This is an attempt to recapture the magic, the ecstasy and dreams of young love found in the collection of Betty’s poems and letters,” he wrote...[keep reading]